Obama Pressures Congress to Pass Funding Bill

Slamming Republicans who now control the Congress, Obama warned of another potential “manufactured crisis” just two weeks before Christmas and said he would not signed another “shortsighted spending bill”.

“I think they have mischaracterized what Planned Parenthood does, but I understand they feel strongly and I respect that”, Obama said at a White House news conference Friday.

Obama agreed to spending cuts in exchange for getting a debt limit increase through Congress four years ago but has since refused to negotiate over the issue.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in a letter to Capitol Hill on Thursday that the nation would be unable to borrow more money by about November 5 unless lawmakers raise the United States debt ceiling.

Many conservative Republicans balk at raising the debt limit without a plan in place for long-term deficit reduction.

“When it comes to the debt ceiling, we’re not going back there”, Obama said at a press conference Friday, referring to past negotiations with Republicans in 2011.

Obama and congressional leaders are in the middle of budget negotiations for keeping the government funded after mid-December. Chaffetz chairs the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and has led high-profile hearings on the Secret Service, Planned Parenthood and other issues. Over the summer, an anti- abortion group released videos purporting to show executives from the group discussing compensation for providing tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers.

Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin has not attracted global support for his approach in Syria, which is a longstanding Russian ally.